We are in the middle of wedding season, and to help everyone planning for this special day, I created this list of tips to have a minimalist wedding for maximum effect. To recognize the busy wedding season, I divided this post into sections to quickly check off the tasks to make your wedding amazing. From location to wedding gift options, this post will give you all you need. Let's get started.
Elegant Minimalist Wedding for Maximum Effect
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- Elegant Minimalist Wedding for Maximum Effect
- Pick a fabulous venue.
- Choose the Right Minimalist Theme.
- Examples of DIY Minimalist Wedding Favor Gifts.
- Stay away from the traditional bridal gift.
- DIY Wedding Decorations Ideas for a Minimalist Wedding.
- Make the food and beverage represent you, your partner, and your story.
- Delicious Recipes for a Small, Minimalist Wedding
- Things to Keep You and Your Guest Safe
Pick a fabulous venue.
The location is key (Affiliate Link) to help keep it minimal. Wherever you decide, this will give you a restriction of people and will help you decide on what the other features are going to be. Places like parks are maybe a little too big. But, places like beaches, arboretums, horticultural societies, refurbished barn halls, banquet halls, and ski resorts in the off-season.
Or, why not check out a destination wedding? January, February, and March are the most unpopular months for weddings. However, getting married in these months is a good idea, as you are more likely to save money and have more availability.
Choose the Right Minimalist Theme.
Creating simplified themes will help you give some guidance on what to do. Look beyond the empty room and see how you can add color and flowers. Imagine yourself moving around the room and envisioning your guests.
Start with color. What do you want your accent color to be? Pick the primary color and an accent color. Pick colors that are easy to find. White, of course, is popular, but also pick a color that will be used for the accessories, the dresses, and the other areas of the wedding.
Some theme types could be country, beach, favorite book, and period themes. Some years ago, I had a client who had a Renaissance wedding. They all dressed up in Renaissance attire. It looked gorgeous and simple. It was a theme they both enjoyed and wanted to share with guests.
Create beautiful invitations without breaking the bank.
Creating your invitation will allow you to make it about yourself and your partner. Plenty of sites will give you options, and this one has some great ones.
If you own a Cricut machine (Affiliate Link), you can find a design to make invitations that look amazing, and people will love them.
Make favor gifts that are personal to you and your partner.
I love it when an item can be cleverly used for two different duties. Homemade gifts are wonderfully popular. Create favor gifts that can also be given to people. Below are some examples:
Examples of DIY Minimalist Wedding Favor Gifts.
Below are just some examples of minimalist and affordable ways to provide favor gifts.
The first one is about treats!
Does your guest love food? How about wrapping Hershey's Chocolate bars with a specially printed Mr and Mrs cover made with decorative paper and beautiful colors? You can design your own wrappers by clicking here (Amazon (Affiliate Link) Affiliate Link).
Give your guests a small picture frame.
You can use a small wallet (Affiliate Link)-size silver picture frame with the guest's name and the table number inside the frame.
Get figurines that represent love
You can use a small figurine, one for each guest, and they add a tag with the name and the table number on it. How about cupids or little figurines that are hugging? Some of these items can be found at the Dollar Store online or near you.
Ornaments, Favor Gifts Ideas
Ornaments (Affiliate Link) are a great option for wedding favor gifts. They are small and easy to get. Check out the ideas below!
- Another example of a great minimalist favor gift could be Love ornaments (Affiliate Link) with the word 'love' on them. It could be ones with the ASL Sign Language ornament.
- The ornament could also have a quote (Affiliate Link) on it like, 'Live every moment, Laugh every day, Love beyond words.'
- Another option is to give guests a drive safely ornament at the reception.
If you can, add the year to the ornament for a special, unique gift.
Buy Now → 
Ornaments I Love You ASL Sign Language
Buy Now →(Affiliate Link)
Give away centerpieces to the lucky winner
Go one step further... Set up a fun game, and the winner wins the centerpiece on each table; that way, the centerpieces will not be wasted.
Stay away from the traditional bridal gift.
Stuff is definitely not minimal. It's best to stick to the basics, like requesting money or gift cards.
Request cash as gifts instead of stuff.
You can even request honeymoon activities as a gift. I recently received a honeymoon registry card from one of our nephews, who is getting married soon. It’s a great idea to allow people to pay for things they can do on their honeymoon. Experiences are so much more fun than things.
Set up a "worthy cause" donation box.
Request people to donate to a worthy cause instead of giving a gift to you. This is great for second marriages when you most likely have stuff.
Below are some Wedding card boxes I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link) (affiliate) that you can use for both of these purposes. Buy two different ones and mark what they are for on the front.
Feel free to check out our Practical Wedding Shower Gift Ideas post AND How to Create a Practical Wedding Registry post for some great ideas on gift options.
DIY Wedding Decorations Ideas for a Minimalist Wedding.
To stay minimalistic, you will need to keep your decorations minimal as well. This will not only save you money but will also reduce the set-up and clean-up time before and after the party.
Make favor gifts that serve two duties.
Create a seat assignment card as a favor gift for your guests. Visit places like Dollar Tree (affiliate) for decorations to use for a wedding reception.
Go to a second-hand store to buy things.
Repurpose vintage items like tablecloths for a hint of sophistication. Floating candles (Affiliate Link) and twinkly lights are an added, affordable, and easy find that can set a relaxing and elegant mood.
Get faux bouquet flowers.
Repurpose the beautiful bouquet. We had silk bouquets made for our wedding. I then bought a low vase to place the bouquet in and gave it to each bridesmaid. I then took my bouquets apart and hot-glued them onto a decorative wall hang that hung on my wall for many years.
Live Bouquet made easy.
Purchase wildflowers from a wholesaler in your area and add a splash of accent flowers you enjoy for a hint of your theme color. Add untraditional greens for even more depth.
Make the food and beverage represent you, your partner, and your story.
Having a love story (Affiliate Link) told with food and beverages will make your wedding extra special. Try these for your minimalist wedding.
Have a sit-down dinner.
In a smaller venue, have a sit-down dinner style. When my husband and I had our wedding, we had a sit-down 5-course dinner because our venue was much smaller. It was a traditional Italian meal with an appetizer, salad, pasta, meat, and dessert.
Create a special meal you both had together for your wedding menu
You can even create a meal around a story (Affiliate Link). What was your favorite meal when you first met, and what was the story (Affiliate Link) of your meeting? Share it will the wedding attendees.
Make the Desserts the showcase of the meal.
Now, let's talk about desserts-yum! Make your desserts that represent the happy couple. Make your own bachelor's or bride's cakes. Create a dessert station as well as a tiered cake. Make a cupcake arrangement instead of a formal wedding cake. Create a variety of mini desserts.
Have an area between the ceremony and the reception for cocktails
Cocktail receptions are a wonderful way to have a party after the wedding for an affordable price. How about a Mimosa bar? It could even be with drinks that are mocktails instead of cocktails if your party doesn't drink.
Buffets are easy and beautiful.
A brunch buffet is beautiful, too. We had friends who couldn't afford a large wedding, so instead, they did a brunch buffet and married in the morning at a beautiful historic home.
Delicious Recipes for a Small, Minimalist Wedding
If you are looking for some feed-the-crowd recipes, below are recipe posts we used at parties and gatherings. Feel free to check them out. They can also be used as side dishes for your wedding.
Super Easy No Pasta Italian Wedding Soup for a Crowd
Homemade Italian Meatballs Recipe for a Crowd
Easy and Delicious Potato Salad Recipe for a Crowd
Quick and Easy Pasta Salad Recipe for a Crowd
There are so many details to deal with when planning a wedding. So, keep in mind that the simpler the tasks are, the easier one activity flows to the next, which will make your wedding feel seamless and elegant- and most likely more affordable. I hope this helps you get the wedding you want. If you had a minimalist wedding, please share your tips below.
Things to Keep You and Your Guest Safe
Whenever there is a crowd, it's good to err on the side of safety. Your party will probably include older people, invitees with high-risk ailments, young children, and maybe even pregnant women. Protect everyone by adding some or all of these tips below to your wedding.
Be sure to have signs about social distancing.
I wrote a post about this in my Party Planning Tips During COVID. Feel free to check them out. There are free sign ideas and other things you can add to your wedding.
Provide hand sanitizer to your guests.
Assign a few people to hold the hand sanitizer and ask them to stand near the entryway and have them spray everyone's hands when they enter.
Notify everyone of the safety precautions in place.
When sending out the invites, include a note about what will be in place to make them feel safer. If you send out physical invites, you can add a note describing the details and include it in the envelope. If you are doing it electronically, be sure to add the description in a place where everyone will find it.
Knowing what to expect regarding their safety will yield more 'yes' responses than 'no' responses.
But wait, while researching this topic, I found these excellent wedding trends articles to help you get inspired for a minimalist but elegant wedding:
The Biggest Wedding Trends to Expect in 2021
The Top Wedding Trends of 2021
10 Helpful Wedding Tips To Reduce Stress
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon (Affiliate Link), and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Linda Samuels says
What a great guide and suggestions for wedding planning! Have you considered taking this on as another career? I haven't planned a wedding, but we did plan two Bat Mitzvahs, many years ago. The three-ring notebook with dividers helped me keep everything together and organized. I'm guessing that type of system would work well for a wedding too.
There are so many details in planning these events. And sometimes the details can make us crazy. The important thing is to keep a positive focus on what the event is really about. So for a wedding, it's two people committing their lives to one another being surrounded by their beloved family and friends. That is the best decoration of all!
Sabrina Quairoli says
I totally agree. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. =)